Roller car-door hanger.



. J. ADDISON.

ROLLER CAR DOOR HANGER.

APPLICATION FILED !AN.1 0. I917.

Patented May 8, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W. J. ADDISON.

ROLLER CAR DOOR HANGER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 10. I917. L225,9 Patented May 8,1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

entrain snares PATENT @Fllflltlhl.

"WILLIAM J. ADDISGN', OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TO ALEXANDER K. BOYER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ROLLER CAR-DOOR HANGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented lllay 8, H917.

Application filed January 10, 1917. Serial No. 141,614.

To all f/07 it may concern Be it known that 1, \ViLLiAii' J. Anmson, a citizen of the United States, and resident of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roller Car-Door Hangers, of which the following is a specification containing a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to an improved roller car-door hanger, and it consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claim found at the end of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved roller car-door hanger which shall be of reasonable cost, and at the same time permit the car door to be opened and closed at all times, when not sealed or locked, with certainty and despatch; and which shall do away with the improper looseness of the door upon its hangers when in a dry condition, and with all liability to stick in a closed position during Wet weather, when the lumber composing the door and car (when steel construction is not used) swells and causes the parts to bind together and refuse to operate, in car-doors of ordinary and well-known construction.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side-elevation of a freightcar and its door, having my invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section, on the line 2 of Fig. 1.

F 3 is a detail end elevation of one of my improved track-brackets with the trackrod in section and located in one of the adjusting-slots of said bracket.

Fig. l is a front view of the same bracket and track-rod.

Fig. .5 is a detail end elevation of one of my improved bottom track-brackets, as used at the bottom of the car-door.

Fig. 6 is a front view of the same bottom bracket, and

Fig. 7 is an end-elevation of the upper part of the door, having my roller and trackrods thereon.

The numeral 1 designates a common car, which may be of wood or steel construction, with the usual door 2, and other common appurtenances.

Above the door 2 are fixed two straight parallel track-rods 3 and 1, respectively, which pass directly into and through the two horizontal, ,arallel, slots of the upper track-rod brackets (5; but said rods are adjustably mounted in said slots, so that they may be moved nearer to or farther from the side of the car 1.

To effect the desired adjustment of the track-rods, they are provided with screw threads 7 at both their ends, and clampingnuts 8 are mounted. upon said threaded porlions, so as to tightly clamp the said. brackets (3 between said .nuts, and thus lock the trackrods in the desired positionto permit the door 2 to slide freely at all times, and at the same time to cause the door to closely hug the side of the car and thus prevent the entrance of rain and snow when the door is closed.

Mounted between said parallel track-rods, at the top of the door 2, are the rollers 9 having their peripheries provided with grooved treads which fit and roll upon the said track-rods, which latter are circular in cross-section by preference.

Hanger-plates 10 are bolted on the outside and inner side of the door 2, by means of common bolts 11, so that the outer ends of said plates will project a distance beyond said door, at both its top and bottom, and the rollers 9 are mounted in the spaces be tween said outer and inner plates upon bolts 13, at both top and bottom of said door.

Rollers are also used to support the weight of the door,v as well as to keep it close to the car side, and most of the weight of the door is supported by the rollers at the bottom of the door, which bottom rollers run upon a single lower track-rod let adjustaloly mounted to slide nearer to or farther from the car body in the slots of the lower track-hanger brackets 16.

Said lower brackets are similar in every way to the upper brackets 6, except that the lower brackets are of less length.

Said lower brackets 16 are fixed upon the car by means of common screws or bolts 17 passed through openings 18 in said brackets and engaging the car frame.

The upper brackets are secured to the car in the same way, preferably, by means of the bolts 17 A common supporting-bracket 19 is se cured to the car at about midway of the length of said lower track-rod 14, to prevent possible sagging ortmovement of said rod in any direction thereat.

In the operation of my car-door hanger the upper track-rod 3 acts to hold the rollers upon the lowermost one of the pair of trackrods, and prevents any possible derailment of said rollers, and at the same time the upper edges of said rollers are held securely in alinement and thereby prevented from wabbliug, with the result that the door 2 is held at just the proper distance from the car for efiicient operation.

The rollers 9 at the bottom of the door 2 support and simultaneously guide the door at the bottom edge of the same.

When it is found that the door is stuck closed, or is too far away from the car side, all that is necessary to remedy the difliculty is to manipulate the track-rod nuts 8, by either loosening or tightening them when the rods 3, et and 1% can be quickly adjusted in their slots 5 and 15, and said track-rods may be located farther from or nearer to the car side, as may be retpiircd.

Common stock-brackets 20 are fixed on the side of the car, to form stops to limit the movements of the door at its closed and open positions.

Vhat I claim as my invention is the following:

An improved car-door hanger, comprising brackets for lockin said rods in said slots i after adjustment, a suitable door, and rollers having grooved peripheries and running upon said rods at the upper end of said door, in combination with suitable means for supporting and guiding the door at the bottom. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IVILLIAM J. ADDISON. Witnesses:

ALEXANDER K. BOYER, JOHN C. HioooN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

